Language Structures and Linguistics
Domain 5, Language Structures and Linguistics, tests explicit knowledge of how German works: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, plus your ability to explain and correct forms rather than just produce them.
Core systems
German has four cases. Verbs and prepositions govern case: helfen, danken, gehören take dative; sehen, brauchen take accusative; wegen, trotz, während take genitive; mit, nach, seit, von, zu take dative; für, ohne, gegen, durch take accusative. Gender is grammatical, not semantic, and a compound takes the gender of its head: die Umwelt + das Problem → das Umweltproblem. Adjective endings follow three patterns: strong with no article, weak after der/die/das, mixed after ein/kein/possessives.
Verbs inflect for tense (Präsens, Präteritum, Perfekt, Plusquamperfekt, Futur I/II), mood (Indikativ; Konjunktiv I for reported speech; Konjunktiv II for hypotheticals and politeness; Imperativ), and voice (passive with werden + Partizip II). Word order is verb-second in main clauses, verb-final in subordinate clauses, and verb-first in yes/no questions and imperatives; auxiliaries and separable prefixes form a sentence bracket.
Phonology: phonemes contrast meaning (Beet/Bett, Kirche/Kirsche); allophones do not. Auslautverhärtung devoices final obstruents; umlaut fronts vowels; final -er vocalizes; voiceless stops are aspirated. Morphology distinguishes inflection, derivation (un-, -heit, -bar), and compounding; prefixes are separable (auf-, an-, mit-) or inseparable (be-, ver-, er-).
Worked example
Choose the article and adjective ending: „Wir haben mit ___ ___ Kollegin gesprochen.“ Reasoning: mit governs dative; Kollegin is feminine singular; the definite article dative feminine is der; after a definite article the adjective takes the weak ending -en. Result: „mit der neuen Kollegin.“ Choosing „die neue“ treats mit as accusative; choosing „der neuer“ applies a strong ending where the article already marks case.
Traps that cost marks
- Importing English preposition logic: „Ich warte für den Bus“ instead of „auf den Bus.“
- Forgetting dative verbs and „es gibt“ + accusative.
- Mixing Konjunktiv I and II: reported „sie habe“ versus hypothetical „sie hätte.“
- Assuming all plurals take -s; German plural markers include -e, -er, -n/-en, -s, and umlaut alone.
- Confusing seit (since, dative) with für (for, accusative).
- Misidentifying the subject in passive or man-constructions.